Archive for the ‘Basement Walls’ Category
There’s No Free Lunch With Wet Basement Walls
Wet basement walls can be more than just a nuisance. If your basement contains finished living space, moisture will ruin carpeting, drywall, and the wood framing. Even if you just have a crawl space or if you only use your basement for storage and utility access, a simple case of wet basement walls from condensation can buckle hardwood flooring above and cause harmful mold to flourish.
Most often the water comes from rainfall or melting snow. Occasionally a broken water main can back flood into your basement as well. Even a small storm can trigger a flood like condition since a house with a 1,500-square-foot roof can possibly shed 1,000 gallons of water for every inch of falling rain. In more extreme cases, the problem is rising groundwater, which may even be fed by an underground spring that has changed course due to erosion or a man made detour such as when new construction is started next to an older existing home. Once the water accumulates around your foundation, it wicks its way inside through cracks, joints, and porous bricks and other masonry.
A professional wet basement walls repair can cost from a few hundred dollars to many thousands of dollars. The clue to the total cost for basement repair is mostly determined by which of these three major problems you have, condensation, runoff, or subsurface seepage. Each one requires more invasive work or added materials that increase the basic labor costs no matter what.